"Enlightening Ideas for Public Policy..."
Vol. 8, Issue 17; April 24, 2006
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IN THIS WEEK'S ISSUE:
1. The State of Freedom: 2006 -- Vargas Llosa's Fisher Award Address
2. Duke Rape Arrests: Justice or Politics?
3. U.S.-China Summit Avoids Major Issues
4. Bolivian Leader Contemplates Massive Wage Hike
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THE STATE OF FREEDOM: 2006 -- Vargas Llosa's Fisher Award Address
The Independent Institute is pleased to announce that it won a Sir Antony
Fisher International Memorial Award for its sponsorship of Alvaro Vargas
Llosa's path-breaking book, LIBERTY FOR LATIN AMERICA: How to Undo Five
Hundred Years of State Oppression.
In his eloquent and moving speech at the awards ceremony, Vargas Llosa
examined how far the world has moved in recent years toward economic and
civil liberties -- and how much further it must move.
"The battle of ideas, as you well know, is never won," said Vargas Llosa,
who directs the Independent Institute's Center on Global Prosperity. "There
have been periods in history when it looked as if freedom was irreversible.
We talk of globalization today as if we had invented a new creature, but for
millions of people globalization was already the assumed environment in the
19th century. And then the 20th century saw the emergence of collectivism in
its atrocious and genocidal form. So we cannot guarantee that the trend
toward individual liberty and the free flow of ideas, goods, services, and
perhaps, one day, even people, will not be reversed. And that only means
there is a lot of work ahead."
Vargas Llosa also noted five challenges facing classical liberals in the
next few years, including raising the less developed world out of poverty,
educating people on the hazards of the drug war, fighting terrorism,
protecting private property against the assault of environmental
fundamentalism, and exposing the true nature of so-called "market
socialism."
Regarding the first challenge, Vargas Llosa explained how the lessons of
Latin America can be applied to Africa and elsewhere around the world.
See "The State of Freedom: 2006," by Alvaro Vargas Llosa (4/21/06)
http://www.independent.org/issues/article.asp?id=1709
2006 Fisher Awards
http://www.atlasusa.org/programs/fisheraward_2006.php?refer=programs
Center on Global Prosperity (Alvaro Vargas Llosa, director)
http://www.independent.org/research/cogp/
LIBERTY FOR LATIN AMERICA: How to Undo Five-Hundred Years of State
Oppression, by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
http://www.independent.org/store/book_detail.asp?bookID=55
THE CHE GUEVARA MYTH AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERTY, by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
http://www.independent.org/store/book_detail.asp?bookID=61
Spanish-language Blog:
El Independent: El Blog del Centro Para la Prosperidad Global de The
Independent Institute
http://independent.typepad.com
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DUKE RAPE ARRESTS: Justice or Politics?
Did justice or politics drive the arrests in the Duke University rape case?
When Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong began making extrajudicial
comments about the case, stating, for example, that he "believed the
victim," he violated Rule 3.8 (f) of the American Bar Association Rules of
Conduct. Perhaps Nifong's professional breach can be explained by his quest
for re-election and his endorsement from the influential Durham People's
Alliance, which supports the accuser.
"The arrests [of the two Duke lacrosse team members accused of rape] go a
long way toward ensuring his re-election," writes Independent Institute
Research Fellow Wendy McElroy, in her latest op-ed.
After much criticism, including remarks leveled by his opponents in the
upcoming DA election, Nifong "now wishes to work outside the public eye."
About Nifong's motivations, the jury is out.
"There are three parties whom the wider public should scrutinize and
exonerate if appropriate: the arrested men, their accuser, and District
Attorney Nifong," McElroy concludes.
See "Did Justice or Politics Drive Arrests in Duke Lacrosse Case?" by Wendy
McElroy (4/18/06)
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1708
LIBERTY FOR WOMEN, Wendy McElroy, ed.
http://www.independent.org/store/book_detail.asp?bookID=43
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U.S.-CHINA SUMMIT AVOIDS MAJOR ISSUES
Last week's visit by Hu Jintao, president of the People's Republic of China,
to Washington, D.C., was marred by White House blunders of etiquette. The
U.S.-China summit's great problem, however, wasn't that the White House
improperly scheduled a working lunch with Hu instead of a full state dinner,
that a translator mistakenly called the PRC by Taiwan's official name, or
that a Falon Gong reporter heckled Hu at a press conference.
Rather, the main problem, according to Ivan Eland (director of the
Independent Institute's Center on Peace & Liberty), was that President Bush,
in word and deed, failed to acknowledge the reality of China's ascendance as
an important power and improperly advised China to take actions that would
cut inexpensive exports to the United States.
"The biggest problem with U.S.-Chinese relations, the U.S. informal
containment policy against China, was not even discussed at the summit,"
Eland writes in his latest op-ed. "The United States has strengthened Cold
War-era formal and informal alliances [against China], augmented the already
far-forward U.S. military posture in the Western Pacific, East Asia, and
Central Asia, and cultivated better relations with China's rivals (India and
Russia)."
Unless the U.S. government retracts its security perimeter and allows China
greater influence in Asia, it risks putting U.S.-China relations on a
collision course, Eland argues. "Above all, the U.S. government should not
put the lives of its 300 million citizens at risk from a Chinese nuclear
attack merely to guarantee the security of the non-strategic and wealthy
island of Taiwan," he concludes.
See "U.S.-Chinese Summit Leaves Strategic Relationship Unexamined," by Ivan
Eland (4/24/06)
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1710
SPANISH TRANSLATION:
"La cumbre EE.UU.-China deja a la relación estratégica sin ser examinada"
http://www.elindependent.org/articulos/article.asp?id=1710
THE WAY OUT OF IRAQ: Decentralizing the Iraqi Government, by Ivan Eland
http://www.independent.org/store/policy_reports/detail.asp?id=16
THE EMPIRE HAS NO CLOTHES: U.S. Foreign Policy Exposed, by Ivan Eland
http://www.independent.org/store/book_detail.asp?bookID=54
Center on Peace & Liberty (Ivan Eland, director)
http://www.independent.org/research/copal/
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BOLIVIAN LEADER CONTEMPLATES WAGE HIKE
Bolivian President Evo Morales announced that his government will raise the
minimum wage by at least 50 percent and that the feasibility of a doubling
of the minimum wage is under study. Bolivian labor leader James Solares,
however, insists that Morales must honor his campaign promise to increase
wages up to 241 percent.
Did either of these gentlemen take Econ 101?
As Independent Institute Adjunct Fellow Carlos Sabino notes, "a compulsory
and indiscriminate raise in salaries can only produce two social
consequences: either a reduction in total employment because the less
productive enterprises will be unable to continue to hire the same number of
employees they now have and will have to lay off some workers (or, in the
worst cases, to shut down operations), or a broadening of the so-called
informal sector, that is, of the labor pool composed of those who cannot
comply with the existing labor and tax laws and are forced to work outside
the area regulated by law."
Concludes Sabino: "A leader, like Evo Morales, who falls into the populist
temptation to hike wages is merely incubating greater economic difficulties
for all and, in effect, worse poverty for the working masses."
"The Temptations of Evo," by Carlos Sabino (4/18/06)
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1706
SPANISH TRANSLATION:
"Las Tentaciones de Evo"
http://www.elindependent.org/articulos/article.asp?id=1706
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THE LIGHTHOUSE
ISSN 1526-173X
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